I've attached two of the messages here:The message just in case is: Configuration file /etc/issueModified by you or by a script since installation. Package distributor has shipped an updated version. Would like like to do about it? You options are: Yes: Install the package maintainers version.

The first time I chose Y. Same issue. The second time I chose N. Same thing again. Each time I end up with a Cinnamon menu which turns into little squares. Ideas?

what is broken atm in lmde/testing is cinnamon; of course that is a lot because cinnamon/nemo are more than just the graphical environment, they are your DE.(assuming that you followed the OP to the letter specially the part about the preferences file, apart from the cinnamon breakage there shouldn't be major problems)

If this is a fundamental question about LMDE, you're correct that it's not rolling like pure Debian Testing. It used to, but a (long) while back, clem went with an Update Packs scheme. If you're "jumping to Testing or Sid" you're going to change your repositories to track pure Debian Testing or Sid. The Mint Update Packs (UP) become inconsequential once you change your repos - although you'll still want the latest Mint files at repo

If the disk is old-ish, sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade is better. That will catch you up to date and fix any broken packages/dependencies along the way.

This thread is really about abandoning the UP scheme, and rolling along with Debian Testing (or Sid). If I'm correct, there's only that 1 Mint repo that's maintained. Maintaining that 1 will keep you in the Mint game, while rolling along with Debian Testing or Sid. If you maintain the 1 Mint repo, you take on troubleshooting Mint and Debian for upcoming UP.

On Windows right now. Maybe zz can post his repos, and tell you which pin priority file to delete.

As an offhand comment, LMDE has never been about Sid, so if you want to give more to the LMDE project, you'll point to Debian Testing repos so as to troubleshoot for upcoming UP. Pointing to pure Sid is more for fun.

if you need this howto to help you make the jump into testing or sid you should think twice because, probably, you are not prepared

general warnings:

if you leave the update-packs, cinnamon might (will) break one day

if you leave the update-packs nvidia and amd might break anytime

if you leave the update-packs you should update frequently (daily if possibly)

why should you do it

update-packs are boring stable

you want to learn more about your system and how linux works in general

you think it's fun spending time maintaining your system

you want the latest&greatest

why shouldn't you do it

update-packs are rock solid

you can't afford downtime / that is a production machine

you hate when something breaks

which one to pick: testing or sid?

sid is more interesting but a lot more dangerous: you have to realize that it can break badly in the next update

breakages and bugs are solved a lot faster in sid (sometimes in the same day) than in testing but are more frequent as well

After considering to follow debian testing, I think is better for me to stay with the standard update-packs model. I cannot afford to break my system or to spend days to fix something serious. I have to work with my PC. Update Packs are boring? ok, but they are safe. I just wish the update packs will be more frequent in the near future (adjusting to a real rolling scheme).

having a small periodic update will better if you want a rolling scheme. I have daily update for more than a year and never got a package breakage. debian now also have 'always releaseable testing' policy. their testing stability is now on par with debian stable or even better. https://bugs.debian.org/release-critical/

it's getting bored to follow testing. now I'm following since last month

As LMDE will track stable in the future and I was already discontent with the lag of LMDE I consider to track testing (maybe even before the freeze). So some questions arose.

1. Changing /etc/apt/sources.list was a simple thing using a text editor. But now there is software-sources and /etc/apt/sources.list.dHow can I track testing with that? Is it safe to reduce official-package-repositories.list to one line (containing deb http://packages.linuxmint.com/ debian main upstream import) and add the three debian-testing-repos to additonal-repositories.list? Or will that cause chaos?

2. What are synaptic's preferences after deleting /etc/apt/preferences when packages exist in mint's as well as debian's repos? Or will both versions be shown?

3. Are there mint packages that should better be deactivated or deinstalled when tracking testing?

Just don't run mintSources - it'll rewrite /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list with the default LMDE repos when you open the mirror selection dialog.You can probably even remove this tool and install software-properties-gtk instead (but I didn't test that, so it may or may not work for you).

py-thon wrote:Is it safe to reduce official-package-repositories.list to one line

It's safe to do what you want or need in either /etc/apt/sources.list or in the *.list files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ directory. APT will read both places.

py-thon wrote:2. What are synaptic's preferences after deleting /etc/apt/preferences when packages exist in mint's as well as debian's repos? Or will both versions be shown?

I don't know why Synaptic is mentioned here, but after that file is removed, all the repos receive the same priority (500). You can check that by running apt policy (without any other parameters).

py-thon wrote:Are there mint packages that should better be deactivated or deinstalled when tracking testing?

You can check this thread to learn about that. One example I recall is mintSystem which causes boot issues when systemd is the default init system - but that can be easily fixed.

That's what I wanted to know. So I can edit them with an editor and ignore software-sources.

Monsta wrote:

py-thon wrote:2. What are synaptic's preferences after deleting /etc/apt/preferences when packages exist in mint's as well as debian's repos? Or will both versions be shown?

I don't know why Synaptic is mentioned here, but after that file is removed, all the repos receive the same priority (500).

Right, I should have asked for APT's preferences instead of synaptic's.This means that updating or upgrading automatically results in the higher version being installed instead of the one from repo with higher priority.

Monsta wrote:You can check this thread to learn about that. One example I recall is mintSystem which causes boot issues when systemd is the default init system - but that can be easily fixed.

Ok, so it's a lot of work to check all the details I had hoped there would be a list or summary someplace.

Those lines are harmless. This only means that some repository is mentioned twice in /etc/apt/sources.list and/or the lists in /etc/apt/sources.list.d . Maybe you just added the four lines mentioned and packages.linuxmint.com already existed. Simply check them and delete the duplicate.

I had the same problem when trying to track testing in September. MATE-dependencies where in a gridlock and could not be solved.The 1673 updates is normal because LMDE is mostly about 10 months old and almost all of LMDE's packages have been updated by now.In the end to me it seemed much simpler to do a fresh install than try to move my old install to testing.